Four pupils face 'sex attack' quiz at top public school

Social services have been called in to one of the country's most famous public schools after a young boy was allegedly subjected to a serious sex assault.

Four boys at Winchester College are said to have allegedly attacked a younger boy at the £27,870 a year school.

Teachers immediately called in the authorities following the incident last week. The victim is believed to be 13 and the four alleged attackers are slightly older.

Quiz: Social services have been called in to the £27,870 a year school

Sources say they have been suspended, with further sanctions possible following an investigation.

The assault is understood to have happened in a dormitory and involved Year Nine boarders.

Dr Steve Bailey, the school's child protection officer, said: 'I can confirm that a child protection issue has been dealt with during the past week.

'The college has gone through all the expected channels, and it has to protect the identities of any pupils involved.'

A source at the school said: 'It's all been hushed up. The boys apparently thought it was a bit of fun but it obviously got out of hand.'

The 627-year-old school in Hampshire, has alumni who include author Anthony Trollope and Tory grandees Willie Whitelaw and Geoffrey Howe.

It is one of the most academically successful in the country, sending large numbers of pupils to Oxbridge.

But it has been engulfed by a series of scandals in the past decade.

In May 2001, 40 pupils, including the then headmaster's son Oliver, were caught with cannabis and alcohol.

The boys were punished with a brief suspension, prompting some to claim Nicholas Tate had been lenient to avoid having to expel his own son.

Two years later, Dr Tate called in police over allegations against housemaster Peter Metcalfe. He was arrested and charged with three offences of assault and ill-treatment of a child but cleared in May 2004 due to lack of evidence.

In 2003, pupils at Winchester exposed information-sharing among leading public schools about fee levels when they hacked into computers.

The incident led to an inquiry by the Office of Fair Trading into fee-fixing cartels, in one of its largest ever investigations.

The OFT concluded the schools had breached competition law but dropped a more serious charge of fee-fixing. The schools pledged to pay a penalty.

Hampshire Police said yesterday it had no immediate record of the latest alleged incident and Hampshire County Council said it was not in a position to comment.